Youthful gamble offers McLeish possible salvation

In theory, miracles can occur at any time, but by definition their impact does tend to be diluted when life is rolling along merrily.

"Mum, that bloke says he can turn water into wine!"

"Well, dear, we're still working our way through the shedload of plonk your father drove back from Calais, so say thank you very much, but no."

Likewise, luck in football. Team A are 5-0 up in the final minute of a game that was long ago in their gift. They think it's all over? Perhaps, but there is still just enough time for one of Team B's lads to complete a miserable afternoon by putting the ball past his own goalkeeper. It's the very last thing Team B need, of course and also no use to team A - a bit of an embarrassment, in fact.

But when you are desperate for the barest hint of good fortune - nothing more substantial than Mr Creosote's wafer-thin mint - you will wait until hell freezes over and thaws once more before fate smiles in your direction.

Rangers' Champions League tie with Porto in the Estadio Dragao on Wednesday night offered a classic example. For three months Rangers have resembled a Loony Tunes cartoon character, endlessly battered into the ground by a giant mallet.

As time wore on in the Dragao, Alex McLeish, with his P45 ready for immediate despatch, watched in despair while the prospect of European football after Christmas evaporated like Rangers' forlorn chances of successfully defending their Scottish title.

Vultures jostled for space on the Rangers crossbar after Lisandro headed Porto into the lead. McLeish had persisted with Francis Jeffers as a lone striker to no avail, so much so that Porto had been able to dispense with a central defender and throw on the towering Hugo Almeida to add to the pressure on Rangers.

Deprived by injury of a clutch of seasoned first-team players who could change the game, McLeish turned despairingly to his bench and heeded Bob Dylan's advice, that when you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose. On came two kids - Chris Burke and Ross McCormack - and promptly produced the serendipity McLeish had craved for three months as Burke provided the supply and McCormack shot home the equaliser.

"Burkey and I do that all the time in training," McCormack gurgled happily afterwards, as they gave him an extra lollipop. Rangers had only one shot on goal during the entire 90 minutes and they had only half of Porto's possession, yet by full-time they held the advantage.

McCormack's contribution guaranteed that Rangers will at least participate in the Uefa Cup in February, but they now have a fighting chance of making the knockout stage of the Champions League, along with Inter Milan, who have already qualified in top spot in Group H.

If Rangers beat Inter at home on Dec 7 they will go through automatically. And guess who Inter play four days later? Yes - AC Milan.

We must wait to discover whether that twist of the Serie A fixture list counts as good fortune for Rangers, because even Inter's reserves constitute a fair side and may feel, like McCormack, that they have something to prove, but it begins to look as if the pendulum has been given a mighty shove in McLeish's favour.

Yet had McLeish thrown Burke and McCormack into the fray from the start, he would have been open to the accusation that he had dispersed responsibility in a crisis on to the thin shoulders of raw cadets. Instead, he began with a plan which, by failing, opened the door to success.

Co Adriaanse, the Porto coach, had thinned his defence to bolster his attack when the game was scoreless, and paid the price when McLeish was forced into playing three attackers - Steven Thompson was also sent on after Lisandro's goal - because McCormack was unmarked when the crucial chance fell to him.

That's the nature of luck. Can't depend upon it. Can't do without it. Alex McLeish will tell you that.